Sunday, December 9, 2012

Today I would like to express how grateful I am for the power of prayer. We are all blessed to have the opportunity to speak to our Father in Heaven everyday. With prayer on my mind lately, I was reminded of a talk we read last year in seminary about prayer. The talk was given by Elder Richard G. Scott during the October session of General Conference in 1989. Elder Scott's talk is titled, Learning to Recognize Answers to Prayer.

He said, "Communication with our Father in Heaven is not a trivial matter. It is a sacred privilege." How true this statement is! Being able to speak to our Heavenly Father is a precious gift given to us. It pains me to know that there are people who simply do not pray. Often times they chose not to pray because they don't like the answer they are given or they don't receive an answer. Elder Scott said, "It is a mistake to assume that every prayer we offer will be answered immediately. Often He withholds an answer, not for the lack of concern, but because He loves us." Both of these could become reasons for us not to pray, but we should not let these "reasons" come between us and our Heavenly Father.

Sometimes we create what President Eyring calls a "pavilion between ourselves and the Lord". Having a pavilion up can make communication with our Heavenly Father difficult. I have been guilty of puttin up a pavilion and even just saying a prayer to say it because I know I should. I have learned from experience that one will not receive an answer if they are not listening. It is so important to listen for the Holy Ghost. I remember learning in primary that he "whispers" to us and if we are not carefully listening we won't here promptings.

I am grateful for the opportunity to exercise my testimony. Prayer is such a blessing to each and every one of us. If we but take the time to listen we will receive answers. They may not be the answers we want to hear, but they will be what we need to hear. The Lord knows us better than we know ourselves so we need to put our trust in him and have faith.